KDE kosplay: here there be dragons

At the KDE release event last week in California, two KDE fans—Aaron Reichman and Kacie Gene—demonstrated the extent of their devotion to the open source desktop environment by attending part of the event in costumes designed to look like Konqi and Katie, the open-source desktop environment's beloved mascots.

The Konqi mascot, a green dragon named after KDE's Konqueror web browser, was originally created by artist Stefan Spatz and was first included in KDE promotional material in 1999. Konqi made several appearances in various KDE desktop components during the 2.x series, but didn't replace the wizard Kandalf as the official mascot until KDE 3.

The specially-crafted costumes, which even included wings and tails, were quite impressive. The two intrepid enthusiasts kindly posed for pictures with a multitude of KDE users and developers and added some extra character to the lively event. They will likely be a welcome addition to future KDE gatherings.